Norwood Neighborhood Breaks Ground on Norwood Learning Gardens
Project funded by a Community Health Innovation Awards grant from the UAB CCTS
On Saturday, February 23, 2013,
historic Norwood’s neighbors and friends will gather to break ground for the
first of 4 planned community gardens in the neighborhood. The gardens, collectively
known as Norwood Learning Gardens, are an effort by the Norwood Resource Center
and community members to ensure that fresh produce and fruits will be available
to Norwood residents within steps of their front doors.
Funding for the gardens was secured
through a competitive grant process sponsored by the Center for Clinical and Translational Science
at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The Community Health Innovation
Awards provide communities a unique opportunity to design, develop, and implement
innovative ideas for solving their most challenging community health needs.
Five specific areas of concern were the foci of the inaugural grants: empty
lots and abandoned homes; lack of sidewalks and walking trails; crime; high
blood pressure; and diabetes.
In proposing Norwood Learning
Gardens, the Norwood Resource Center and community members sought not only to
create a community garden, but to create a culture of family gardening in a
community setting. Groundbreaking for the first garden will be at Norwood
Elementary School where 4th and 5th grade students will
complete the Junior Master Gardener program, designed by U.S Department of
Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service. The remaining 3 gardens will be
built on empty and neglected lots in the neighborhood.
The groundbreaking will be led by
Mayor William Bell and is scheduled for 10:45 am on Saturday, February 23rd
on the west lawn of Norwood Elementary School, 3136 Norwood Boulevard,
Birmingham, Alabama. For additional information call Mélodie Echols at
205/322-7361, or email at: mdechols@norwoodresourcecenter.org.